5 Key Components of a Full Body Transformation

04/18/2018 Leave a comment

When you begin a new diet and exercise routine, your goal is to see a full body transformation. However, for most people, this just isn’t the reality. They find themselves unable to reach their goals, and then they end up giving up and reverting to their old habits.

The reason that so many people struggle to reach their goals is that they are missing one of the five key components to reaching a full body transformation. Read on to find what the five key components are and how you can make them work best for you.

Diet

Perhaps the most important part of any body transformation is the diet that you are eating. A simple internet search is going to find you a wide range of options. Ultimately, you are going to want to select a diet that doesn’t cut anything out of your diet completely.

When you cut something out in its entirety, you are more likely to cheat because you are going to miss that food. Instead, focus on getting a healthy number of calories and ensure that those calories are coming from healthy food sources.

Find out what number of calories you are going to need to consume on a daily basis to meet your goals and work out where you are going to get those calories from. Remember to consider how much sugar, carbohydrates, fibers, and protein you are getting from your dietary choices, as well as the rest of your vitamins and nutrients.

Exercise

Like with diet, you are going to be able to find a wide variety of exercise routines and options by doing a little bit of research. Choose an exercise plan that you are going to be able to stick to. Start with small changes and work your way up.

If you aren’t exercising at all, walking for even fifteen minutes a day is going to help you to see results. Try to choose exercises that are going to work your entire body in a rotation, focusing on different muscle groups on different days of the week.

It is also important that you don’t forget about your cardio exercises. Remember to make exercising fun. Look for classes that appeal to you to make it easier to stick to.

Mindset

Your mindset is going to make the biggest impact on whether you are successful with your body transformation. If you are of the mindset that you aren’t going to be able to reach your goals, then you aren’t going to reach them. Telling yourself things like “I don’t have time to work out” or “I don’t know how to eat healthy” are going to sabotage your chances of success.

Instead, tell yourself that you are important enough to make time for and that you can learn how to make healthier food options. Then, follow through and prove to yourself that you can do it.

Motivation

What is your motivation to transform your body? Perhaps you are going on a trip, and you want to drop some extra weight, or maybe someone close to you was just diagnosed with a health disorder, and you don’t want to be next.

Your motivation is personal to you, and there is no right or wrong to what can motivate you to want to be healthier. Whatever your motivation is, remind yourself of it on a regular basis. Put up motivational pictures where you are going to see them or use motivational quotes.

If you can find someone who understands your motivation, that is a great person to rely on for support and to remind you of that motivation.

Support

You aren’t going to be successful if you don’t have some form of support during your journey to a body transformation. Changing your diet and exercise routines takes a lot of work, and it is easy to get discouraged. You might not have anyone who you know personally that would be a good support for you, but that is okay.

You don’t need to have someone who is physically present to support you. There are many online forums that are full of people who are taking the same journey as you and are going to be more than willing to support you.

When you have a bad day and eat something that you shouldn’t, and a day that you don’t work out the way that you meant to, having a support person to encourage you and help you through the bad days is going to be the difference between your success and failure.

Reaching your goal of a full body transformation isn’t going to be easy. However, there are some key components to ensuring that you are successful.

With a good diet and exercise plan in place, as well as good motivation and support, you are going to ensure that you are in the right mindset to achieve your goals and do everything necessary to meet them.

Filed under diet, fitness, mindset, motivation Tagged with ,

5 Ways to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated to Exercise

10/14/2014 Leave a comment

Photo credit: “Mike” Michael L. Baird [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

If you are like many other people, when it comes to exercise, you start out fired up and then fizzle out. Getting motivated is often the easy part. You know you should be exercising more, so why are you sitting on the sofa eating chips and watching television? Exercising often feels like work and sometimes the rewards may be slow in coming, especially if you’ve been sedentary for a long time or if you are trying to lose weight. Getting and staying motivated requires changing how you think about exercise. Change the way you think about exercise and you will see changes in your body and your health.

  1. Do It for You

You may need to lose a few pounds, just want to tighten and tone your muscles, or you are concerned about your heart health. Whatever your reasons for wanting to exercise more, do it for you. If you start exercising to lose weight because your partner commented on your weight, you may not be able to maintain your motivation momentum and may even become resentful and lose your motivation when you don’t see the results you expect – or your partner expects. The benefits of being more physically active include losing or maintaining your weight, stronger and leaner muscles, stronger bones, and reducing your risk of diseases associated with being overweight. The physical benefits of exercise can be a great starting point, but over time you may lose interest unless you have an emotional or psychological reason to keep going. For example, exercise and getting fit may help you feel more confident or help you feel less stressed at the end of the day. Find the internal motivation that keeps you active and focus on that. Soon you will be looking forward to walking for 30 minutes after work to relieve stress or swimming 20 laps to feel energized.

  1. Have Fun

Exercise can be hard work, but if it feels like work you probably aren’t going to stick with it for very long. Find an activity that you love and do that. You don’t even have to have a regular schedule of exercise to get fit and stay healthy. You can find easy ways to exercise every day. Consider it a challenge. Park one block from your work and walk the rest of the way to work 2 or 3 days each week. Instead of driving the half mile to the convenience store, ride your bicycle. Walk the dog or walk your neighbor’s dog. Play games with your kids in the park. Challenge yourself by taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Join a group of friends and walk, jog or ride bikes each weekend. There are innumerable opportunities to exercise and have fun doing it.

  1. Make Time for Fitness

Most of us have busy schedules. Going to the gym takes time and costs money. Between work and family, we have little time left for ourselves. Make fitness your YOU time. It’s your special time that you take for yourself. Even as little as 15 minutes each day can have beneficial effects on your body and on your mind. You can resolve to do yoga, or walk, or do some calisthenics or 15 to 20 minutes each day between the time you get home from work and time to cook dinner. Your fitness program doesn’t have to be set in stone either. Be flexible with your schedule. If you simply cannot find a full 30 minutes in any day to exercise, do it in 10 minute sets. You may also consider adding exercise to things you are already committed to doing. If you have to attend a parent-teacher meeting after school, ride bikes to the school with your kids or walk. You can pedal on a stationary bike or walk on a treadmill while reading the report your boss handed you at the end of the day to prepare for a staff meeting.

  1. Set Attainable Goals

One sure way to lose your motivation and simply give up is to set unattainable goals. It isn’t possible, and potentially dangerous to try, to lose 20 pounds in 10 days. It simply isn’t realistic to think you can achieve such a goal. No matter what the television infomercials claim, you are not going to have the muscles of a body builder in a mere 4 weeks of lifting weights or using an exercise machine. Set realistic and attainable goals for yourself. Start small and reward yourself each time you reach your goal. For example, if you want to be more active and have been sedentary for years, set a goal of walking for 5 minutes every other day at lunch time or after work. Once you have been walking for 5 minutes, bump up your goal to 10 minutes every other day and then 15 minutes every other day for a week. Add 5 minutes of walking time each week. Before long you will be walking for a full 30 minutes three days each week with little or no effort.

  1. Adjust Your Attitude

Be prepared for setbacks by changing the way you think about not reaching your goals. Do you beat yourself up with negative self-talk? Do you think, “I’m such a loser” or “I’m never going to get in shape”? Stop. Just because you didn’t exercise today does not mean you are lazy or a loser or that you are never going to reach your ultimate fitness goals. A thunderstorm or snowy, cold weather may prevent you from walking around the block like you do every day after dinner, but you don’t have to sit down and eat a bag of chips because you can’t go walking. Put on a dance video and dance in your living room for 20 minutes. Run up and down the stairs for 5 minutes or get on your treadmill instead. Walk or jog for an extra 5 minutes tomorrow. Stepping on the bathroom scale may result in disappointment, especially if you set weight loss goals that are too high or unrealistic. One setback does not have to mean you lose your motivation. Adjust your goals and keep going. Are you fitter and more active than you were a month ago? Three months ago? You are already a winner if you are getting more exercise. Think of yourself as a fit, active person, and soon you will be.

 

Filed under exercise, motivation

Getting and Staying Motivated to Lose Weight

08/20/2014 Leave a comment

Photo credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The first step to losing weight is to make the decision to do so, and then take it to the next level by changing your lifestyle in such a way as to promote weight loss and keep it off. It may seem as if you put on weight easily, but find it nearly impossible to take it off. Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight takes time and hard work. There is no easy, quick fix out there to help you magically lose weight and make the fat disappear. You have to take charge of your own health and well-being by changing your lifestyle, which primarily entails eating healthier foods, getting more exercise and staying motivated about all the positive changes you’re making for yourself. Don’t lose sight of your goals if you find yourself at a weight-loss plateau and not moving forward as expected. Keep your focus, be consistent and take it one step at a time. Soon you will be where you want to be and achieve permanent, lasting weight loss.

Look through old family photo albums. Remember how thin you were? It may not be possible to get back down to that size 4 you wore in high school, but you can lose weight. Do you have a high school or college reunion coming up? Looking at those old photos may be just the motivation you need to convince you to get off the sofa and hit the gym.

Do some virtual shopping and select your dream outfit, but in a size that you want to be. Bookmark the page or print out the page and hang it on your closet door to remind you to stay motivated to lose weight. Set small goals, such as losing 1 pound each week or exercising 3 days a week. Reward yourself when you achieve each small goal. Keep in mind the ultimate reward, that new outfit! When you do lose weight and can fit into that outfit, buy it! Treat yourself when you reach each milestone in your weight-loss journey. Small rewards for successful steps toward your ultimate goal can help keep you motivated.

We all know how to make a list of things we don’t like about ourselves or a list of things we haven’t yet achieved. Motivate yourself to keep exercising, eating right and losing weight by making a list of positive aspects of your life. You have friends and family who support you. You walked 15 minutes today. You rode your bike for 3 miles. You refused pizza and ate a healthy dinner instead. You lost 1 pound last week. Positive affirmations can help keep you motivated to do the hard work necessary to lose weight.

Many people are motivated by visual stimuli, which is why television commercials are successful, especially those for food. Take a self-portrait or have a family member take a photo of you, and then stop using your full length mirror for 90 days. Stop looking at yourself in the mirror if seeing yourself causes you to have negative thoughts or reinforces a negative self-image. Continue to exercise and track your weight-loss. After three months, take another self-portrait or have a family member take a photo. Place the photos side-by-side and look at the difference. If you have stuck with your program of exercise and diet, you should see a striking difference between the two photos. Seeing how much weight you’ve lost is sure to motivate you to keep going.

 

Filed under diet, exercise, healthy diet, motivation, weight loss

Fun Family Activities That Get You Fit

05/24/2014 Leave a comment

Photo by: Sander van der Wel CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.0

Summer is here and it’s time for holiday family gatherings and fun! Family vacations, weekend getaways or a day trip to the beach with the kids are great opportunities to enjoy family and get some exercise at the same time. Park the car and bike to the park. After the barbecue enjoy some fun games in the back yard with the whole family to burn off those extra calories. This Memorial Day weekend, get the whole family involved in fun fitness.

Have a hula-hoop contest! The kids will love the competition and you will love what hula-hooping does for your abdominal muscles and thighs. Hula-hooping engages your entire mid-section and  your legs. On the count of three everyone start hooping! The person who can hoop the longest wins. You can burn more than 100 calories in just 10 minutes of hula-hooping. Adults will find hula-hooping easier if they use a large hoop. A weighted hoop is even easier to use.

Jumping rope is another way the whole family can have fun and get fit. You and your kids can have a contest to see who can jump rope the longest or the fastest. Use two long ropes with one family member at each end throwing the rope and play double-dutch. Select two or three different types of jumping rope, such as jumping on one foot or double jumps. You kids will have fun and you will burn as many calories as running one mile.

Running is one of the best ways to get fit and burn calories. Why not make it a game? The whole family can play a game of tag on the beach, at the park or in the back yard. Freeze tag is a favorite among children. One person is “it” and chases the others trying to tag them. If you get tagged, you have to stop running, or “freeze,” until another player tags  you again. The child who is “it” wins the game when everyone is frozen. Make it a team sport by several “its” chasing and tagging others.

Staying home this holiday weekend? Play some one-on-one basketball or a game of HORSE in the driveway. Each player gets a shot from the free-throw line. Every time a player makes a basket, he or she gets one letter of the word HORSE. Keep score with sidewalk chalk. If you want a more vigorous workout, you can burn as many as 200 calories in a  half hour playing basketball. Basketball is a high-impact exercise that helps build bones and muscle too. Make sure you warm-up before and cool-down after the game to reduce your risk of a sprained ankle or pulled muscle. Cool off with fruit juice and water to re-energize your body after a vigorous game.

Taking long walks, swimming, biking and playing volleyball at the beach are great ways to spend a summer weekend or holiday while keeping fit. You will not only build muscle and strong bones, you’ll strengthen your relationship with your family and kids.

 

Filed under cardiovascular, children, family, fun, holidays, motivation, workouts

Don’t Make Excuses! Exercise!

02/04/2013 Leave a comment

 

It can be difficult to overcome excuses not to exercise. You know you should get moving. You know that people who exercise regularly are healthier and less likely to develop diseases, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. You have also heard that people who exercise are usually happier and sleep better than people who rarely or never exercise. You need at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise each week. Walking, jogging, riding a bicycle or even doing work around the house, such as mowing the lawn, are good ways to exercise. What’s your excuse for not exercising? Here are some tips about overcoming excuses so you can get moving and get fitter.

You may say that you don’t have time to exercise. A busy lifestyle with work, kids, social commitments and duties does not have to prevent you from exercising regularly. A few minor adjustments to your lifestyle can help provide ample time to workout. Three days each week, trade your television time for exercise time. Instead of spending an hour in front of the television, workout for 30 minutes or go for a brisk walk before or after your favorite television program. You don’t have to exercise for 30 straight minutes. Break up your workout into three 10 minute sessions throughout the day. Ride a bicycle to work or walk if you can. Park your car a couple of blocks from work and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator.

You may put off exercising because you think it’s boring to trudge along on a treadmill or pedal a stationary bike for 30 minutes. Exercise does not have to be boring. Do the kinds of activities you like to do or try something new. Music lovers can take a dance class, such as salsa or ballroom dancing. Take tennis lessons or join a dance aerobics group. Start a walking group with your best friends or co-workers. Exercise doesn’t have to be boring. Working out with a group is a great way to spend time with old friends or make new friends.

You probably feel tired after a long day at work. You may be tempted to put up your feet and zone out in front of the television for a couple of hours instead of exercising. Exercise will actually help you feel stronger and more energized. Exercise increases your heart rate and your respiration to move more oxygen through your body. Your brain will release hormones called endorphins, which will help improve your mood. You will feel better physically and emotionally after a good workout.

Filed under endorphins, energy, exercise, fitness, motivation

Exercise to Fight Depression

02/26/2012 Leave a comment

Photo Credit: Public Domain
You know that exercise can help you get fit, improve cardiovascular health, strength, flexibility and help you lose weight. Did you know that exercise can also improve your self-esteem and improve your mood? Physical exertion causes your brain to release endorphins, which reduce the effectiveness of pain receptors in the brain. The result is a feeling of well-being. You feel physically energized and emotionally well when your brain releases this chemical. The feeling has been called “runner’s high” because of a euphoric feeling. The effects of regular exercise are stress reduction, less anxiety, improved self-esteem, more restful sleep and fewer feelings of depression. 
Any physical activity that you enjoy doing can  help ward off feelings of depression and improve your mood. You don’t have to run miles or lift weights at the gym to enjoy the benefits of regular exercise. Riding a bicycle, dancing, walking, playing golf and tennis, basketball, softball, even gardening, yard work and house work is exercise. Low-impact aerobic exercises like swimming, bicycling and walking will get your heart pumping, your muscles working and your brain busy making endorphins. Do what you like to do and involve a friend or group of friends and family. Make exercise a regular part of your family activities. Aim for about 30 minutes of moderate exercise every other day. Gradually increase the time you spend exercising or exercise more frequently. If you are having trouble getting started or motivated to exercise, a personal fitness trainer can help. Make exercise part of your regular daily routine for a healthy mind and a positive attitude.

Do not ignore depression. Sometimes even exercise and healthy diet cannot alleviate feelings of depression. Moderate to severe depression may require immediate medical intervention. If you or a loved one could be suffering from depression, seek  help.

For more information about depression and depression help resources, see:

WebMD, Depression: Support and Resources

Filed under aerobic exercise, depression, fitness, mental health, motivation

Winter Blahs: How to Stay Motivated

02/08/2012 1 Comment

Photo by www.localfitness.com.au

You made a New Year’s resolution to stick to a fitness program and a healthy diet. Great news! But now it’s mid-February and you’re just not as motivated as you were on January 2nd. Maybe you started a fitness program and diet, but you’ve allowed some of your plans to fall by the wayside. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Many people start an exercise and diet program only to stop after a few weeks and fall back into their old routine. A personal trainer can help keep you motivated and there are ways to stay motivated on your own.
Re-evaluate your goals. You may have set fitness goals that are unrealistic so that you are not seeing the results you expected. Design a new fitness program with short-term, intermediate-term and long- term goals. Try committing to completing a 10 minute walk 3 times each week for the next 4  weeks. After that, increase your walking time by 10 minutes for the next 4 weeks. Continue increasing your time until you walk for 30 minutes 3 days each week. On the days you are not walking, commit to doing 5 minutes of morning stretching exercises, followed by a healthy breakfast and then 5 more minutes of exercise. Gradually add afternoon and evening exercise. 
Have you lost your motivation because you are bored with your routine? Change your routine or start playing a sport that you enjoy. Take up dance aerobics or swimming. Try a Latin dance class or join a martial arts program. Invite friends and family to join you in exercise. Organize a fitness club at work. You are more likely to stay motivated and reach your fitness goals if you are having fun. If finding the time to exercise is a problem, a personal trainer can also help you design a program as part of your regular schedule. Give yourself a reward when you reach a particular goal. Go shopping for new clothes to fit your slimmer figure. 

Filed under exercise, fitness, motivation